Shoe treating apparatus



July 1, 1941. F. c. EAs'rMAN SHOE TREATING APPARATUS Filed Dec. l5, 1939 Patented July 1, 1941 SHOE TREATING APPARATUS Fred C. Eastman, Marblehead, Mass., assigner to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 15, 1939, serial No. 399,439

9 Claims.

This invention relates to shoe-treating apparatus of the type in which heat and moist vapor are used to condition thermo-plastic toe-boxes and the lasting margins of pulled-over shoes about to be toe-lasted.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved apparatus in which the conditioning treatment may be accelerated without excessive heat, excessive vapor, or excessive waste of either. In former apparatus for this purpose heat and vapor far in excess of actualrequirements are habitually supplied and the surplus vapor and much of the surplus heat are discharged into the atmosphere, and thus wasted.

The invention rherein set forth is predicated upon recognition of the fact that the process of conditioning the materials of a shoe cannot be accelerated by supplying heat and vaporin excess of the natural rate of absorption which, in most cases, requires about one minute to produce satisfactory results. Speed is one of the principal objectives in all types of such apparatus and many of them supply quantities of heat and vapor so much in excess of the quantities actually absorbed by the work that various objectionable results are produced by the quantities wasted.

On the other hand, the present invention provides an apparatus in which the quantities of vapor and heat are restricted to minimizewas'te, and in which the conditioning process is accelerated by causing a small quantity of vapor diluted in a large quantity of heated air to impinge against the work while flowing at high velocity under forced draft.

The apparatus illustrated herein as embodying the novel features of the present invention provides a closed air-circuit including a treatment chamber through which heated air and moist vapor may be circulated without being emitted into the atmosphere outside the apparatus, and a power-driven blower located in the circuit to maintain circulation of the iiuids at high velocity so long as treatmentof work is required. The closed circuit also includes a heating chamber through which the vapor must pass at least once before it is used and through which it may flow repeatedly until used.

One of the problems due to the use of excessive quantities of moist vapor inside a casing is to prevent the shoes from being stained with condensate that accumulates on thel interior surfaces of the walls of the treatment chamber and drips therefrom. The present invention avoids this problem as a result of diluting a small r quantity of vapor in a large quantity of heated air and circulating the mixture at a velocity high enough to insure rapid tempering of the work. Whatever moisture is not absorbed by the workis returned at high velocity to the heating chamber .to be replenished with additional vapor and supplied again to the treatment chamber Without undergoing the process of condensation.

The illustrated apparatus comprises thermoinsulated outer walls and heat-radiating inner walls. Both chambers are enclosed withinthe insulated walls but divided from .each` other by partition `walls that radiate heatto both chambers, the source or sources of heat being localized in a hollow inner Wall in the heating chamber from which the heat is transferred to the treatment chamber partly by convection and partly by conduction and radiation.

VThe vapor is supplied to the air-stream through a duct in the aforesaid hollow wall which, by reason of containing the source of heat, is the hottest wall in the, air-circuit and insures high temperatur-e of both the air and the vapor at the point where theyare mixed.

Referring to the drawing, o

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a shoe-treating apparatus embodying the novel features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the casing of the air-circuit in the plane indicated by line II-II in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and Y Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a fragment of a partition .wall having louvers through which the air-stream and the moist vapor'enter the treatment chamber under and in register with the forepart of a shoe inserted `for treatment.

The air-circuit of the apparatus is enclosed in a casing comprising a ,front wall loll, a rear wall Il, `top walls I2 and i3, two sections lliand i5 of a bottom wall, a side wall I6, and two sec.- tions Il and I8 constituting the oppositeside wall-` These walls are all outer walls. The walls HL ll, I2,` le, i6 and I1 arefabricated from con-v frontingplates of sheet metal between which thermo-insulating material is packed, The walls I3, l5 and i8 are integral components of a cast metal heat-radiating member thatvalso includes a vertical partition 2i) (Fig. 3), 4a horizontal partition 2l, a vertical web` 22 connecting the portions l5 `and 2|, and two groups of braiile- `pins 23 projecting from opposite faces of the web.

is bounded by the the rear wall thereof is provided with a circularv outlet port 2'I for circulation of an air-stream.

'I'he heating chamber is boundedby .the front wall I0, the rear wall II, the bottom wall |14, l5, the side walls IS, II and i8, the partitions 2!) and 24, and the top wall I3. The wall I3 is curved to provide a stream-lined cowl for a centrifugal impeller located between the walls II and 20 and in register with the outlet port 2'I.

The impeller 3U draws the air in the treatment chamber away from the openings 26, through the outlet port Z'Land propels it at high velocity .through the heating chamber, from which, it returnsto the treatment chamberlthrough two inlet ports near the lfront Wall thereof. These infle't ports are formed in the partition, 24 and are .locatedbelow-but-in register with the treatment stations established. by the shoe-receiving openings 26. Each` inletl port comprisesV a group of 'louvers 3|. by which the air-.stream is deflected ,away from the openings 26 and toward the rear .wall ofr the, treatment chamber. Moreover, the louyers are arranged to` direct the air-stream against the linings `of the lasting margins of pulled-over` shoes inserted for treatment and supported inthe position of theshoeV 32 .represented j VAl bracketl 33 is provided to support the shoes for treatment. It Ycomprises .a Yvertically advjustable` .section 34 and a horizontally. adjustable section superposed, on the latter. The section 345 has two. arms 35 on which the heel parts of two shoes Amay lie.

.The air-impeller 30 is axed to the rotor shaft of an `electric motor (Fig. l3), the rear wall II having a small hole through which theshaft extends. Thewall I3, curved as shown inv Fig. 1, surrounds about three-fourths of the impeller and is merged with the wall ,I8 to vdirectthe 4 air-stream downward ,below the level of the treatment chamber 25.

The vertical web 22 of the heat-radiating member is hollowand contains two electric heating units 4Ifthat stand upright in sockets. The heat generated by these units is radiatedinto theheating chamber'. by the web 22, thebottom wall. I5, the partition walls. 2|) and 2|, and the walls, I3 and I8. `'I'he partition walls20 and.2I alsoradiate heatJ into the. treatment chamber, and thewall 2| conducts heat to the sheet metal partition 24 ,and toa sheetmetal baffle Wall 42 (Figs.` Zfand 3). Heat is also conducted tothe wall 42 by the bottom wall I 5.

'Ifheweb-22 constrains thel air-stream to flow fromjight to left, thebaiie wall 42 deiiects it vfrom'left to right, and the walls I1 and I0 deflect itrfrom right toleft. In flowing past-the two-groups of bale pins 23 the air traverses both sides of the wall22 containing the heating units 4I and acquire ahightemperature. The bafe wall 42not onlyconstrains the air-stream to traverse the second group of pins 23 but also causes itto follow a zigzag course underand in contact withthe bottom wall 2|, 24 of the treatment chamber.

Since the impeller 30 can deliver no more air into the treatment chamber than it takes out through the port 21, no hot air is blown out through the shoe-receiving openings 26, but the total quantity is maintained in the closed aircircuit to conserve the heat a-nd to be used repeatedly to treat the work and to carry moist vapor to the work.

Hot moist vapor is supplied to the air-stream through a duct 44 in the web 22, the emission port 45 of this duct being located in the heating vchamber at the entering side of the first group of baille-pins 23. The vapor is derived from a closed chamber in a generator 45 (Fig. 3) outside the air-circuit and located behind the rear wall II. A pipe 4l conducts the vapor from the generator to the receiving end of the duct 44 in the top of the wall 2n.

Water is supplied to the generator by a barometric feeder the reservoir of which is indicated at 48. The feed-pipe for water is indicated at 49. The generator comprises two electric heating units, one of which is indicated at in Fig. 3. .'I'his one obscures the other which is located besideA it. Both of these units may be used to start the supply of vapor and one of them may be used alone to continue the supply thereafter.

The water-seal maintained in the generator by the barometric feeder prevents the vapor from escaping except by flowing throughV the pipe .41 and the duct 44. The Volume of vapor is small and the pressure thereof is negligible, but its temperature is raised as it iiows through the duct 44. The superheated vapor discharged from the emission port 45 is absorbed and swept along by the air-stream, andthe mixture of air and-Vapor traverses both sides of the heat-radiating web 22 and both. groups of pins 23 before entering the treatment chamber 25 through. the louvers 3|. At this point the stream of air and vapor flows at high velocity toward the rear wa'll of the treatmentchamber. If the iorepart of` a shoe is arranged. to overhang thelouvers as represented in Fig. 3 vthe lasting margin thereof will hang in Vthe-path of flow and receive vthe full force of the v draft.

On theother hand, wheny the shoe is removed the vapor will be recirculated with the air-stream instead of escaping through the 4opening 25. Since the outer-walls of the treatment chamber are thermally insulated, the heat radiatedV in 56. The reservoir 43, open at the bottom,l stands in a basin El. A post 5B aflixed to the frame l55 supportsthe basin. A ledge 59 formed on the frame underlies and supports the casing of the air-circuit. The bracket 33 is alixed to this ledge.

Having thus describedrny invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising outer walls and heat-radiating-inner walls forming a closed air-circuit including a heating chamber and a treatment chamber yin series, a powerdriven blower arranged to circulate the air in said circuit, one of said inner walls being hollow and located in .said heating chamber to be enveloped in the air-stream, heating means located inside said hollow wall, and means arranged to supply hot moist vapor, said hollow wall. having a duct through which the vapor ows and -from which it is emitted into the air-stream.

2. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which an inner wall integral with said hollow wall is arranged to radiate heat from one surface into said heating chamber and from another surface into said treatment chamber.

3. An apparatus as specied in claim 1 in which the emission end of said Vapor-duct is located at a point from which the emitted vapor must traverse both sides of said hollow wall before entering said treatment chamber.

4. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which said heating chamber underlies said treatment chamber and in which one of said inner walls integral with said hollow wall is arranged to radiate heat into said treatment chamber.

5. An apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which the walls of said heating chamber are arranged to deflect the air-stream in a zigzag path under and in contact with the bottom Wall of said treatment chamber.

6. An apparatus as dened in claim 1 in which said vapor-duct is arranged to receive Vapor from a source outside said outer walls and superheat it before emitting it into the air-stream.

7. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising outer walls and heat-radiating inner walls forming a closed air-circuit including a heating chamber and a treatment chamber in series, the front wall of said treatment chamber having one or more shoe-receiving openings, the rear wall thereof having an outlet port and the bottom wall thereof having one or more inlet ports arranged to direct the inowing air against the work placed in said shoe-receiving openings, means for supplying hot moist vapor to said air-circuit, and a power-driven blower arranged to evacuate air from said treatment chamber through said outlet port and return it through said heating chamber and said one or more inlet ports.

8. An apparatus as specified in claim 'l in which said one or more inlet ports are provided with louvers arranged to deect the air-stream away from said shoe-receiving openings and toward said rear wall.

9. A shoe-treating apparatus comprising means forming a closed air-circuit including a treatment chamber having a front wall, a 'rear wall and a bottom wall, said bottom wall having an inlet port to admit an air-stream, said front wall having a shoe-receiving opening arranged to locate a portion of a shoe in register with said inlet port, and said rear wall having an outlet port for the airstream, a power-driven blower arranged to draw air from said chamber through said outlet port and return it through said inlet port, and means for supplying radiant heat and moist vapor to the air-stream flowing from said blower to said inlet port.

FRED C. EASTMAN. 

